Hassan B.-E.A. Between English and Arabic: A Practical Course in Translation

Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. — 135 p. — ISBN: 1443858218, 9781443858212.This book does not attempt a new theory of translation, but rather an introductory course for students of translation. It is designed to improve understanding of translation between Arabic and English. The book draws upon contrastive linguistics. Contrastive linguistics is a linguistic study of two languages, aiming to identify differences between them. Contrastive linguistics is a relatively modern discipline which began to develop in the 1930s, and the American linguist Benjamin Lee Whorf (1941: 240) foresaw its place as a successor to the comparative study of languages.There is still an interest in contrastive linguistics because it is theoretical and descriptive. Translators transfer meaning between two different languages. One could therefore avoid problems of translation through a prior contrastive analysis in the two languages. It is probably most useful in pointing out areas where direct translation of a term or phrase will not convey accurately in the target language the intended meaning of the first. At the macro-level, it leads the translator to look at broader issues such as whether the structure of the discourse for a given text-type is the same in both languages. Furthermore, although contrastive linguistics is commonly used, there are some theoretical and practical problems in its application. The solution lies in identifying a common ground for comparison, comparing features of different languages, taking account of socio-cultural factors, and taking account of extra-textual and inter-textual factors.This book is divided into six chapters. The first chapter is a short introduction to translation. It is a summary of possible strategies in translation. Chapter two tackles meaning-based issues in translation. Chapter three describes grammatical issues in translation. Chapter four touches upon phonological issues in translation. Chapter five deals with the process of editing and proofreading a translation. Chapter six gives suggested questions about the course.